GLORIO Spring 2016 Anime Guide Part 3

Our final round of previews features the much hyped Trigger original Kiznaiver, some sleepy slice of life shows, and a bus tour gone wrong that sounds like the anime equivalent of Lost. We even have Dogakobo’s next potential successor to Love Lab, although several years later I know better than to get my hopes up for that.

Hai-Furi

Manga Adaptation by Production IMS Air Date: 4/9/2016

So most of the world has been submerged underwater, except Japan of course, and the surviving cities essentially live as if they are at sea. A group of women called the “Blue Mermaids” have devoted their life to protecting the oceans, but rather than follow those cool ladies around we are going to watch a group of teenage girls go to high school so they can join one day. Bleh. The fact that none of that is evident in the trailer and it really does just look like another girls’ school comedy is a bad sign. I’ll give it a look but I’m not getting my hopes up.

Kiznaiver

Anime Original by Trigger Air Date: 4/9/2016

Before Trigger fans get too excited at seeing a new original series, this seems to be a “pay the bills” project while their key people are off working on passion projects (see this season’s short: Space Patrol Luluco). That said, they have brought in some high profile friends, including the omnipresent Mari Okada for series composition and character designer Shirow Miwa, whose art style I adore. The story itself, about an experimental “KIzuna System” that aims to create world peace by letting people share memories through physical pain (???), sounds like top notch ANIME nonsense, so I’m not really sure what to expect. At the very least it looks cool.

The Lost Village

Mayoiga

Anime Original by Diomedea Air Date: 4/9/2016

OK, this sounds kind of interesting: a group of people take a suspicious bus tour to a rumored utopian village, all of them looking for a fresh start. Obviously the rest is a mystery, and that’s what makes it intriguing. I’m guessing there’s going to be some supernatural shenanigans and emotional drama as we dig into the pasts of the characters, which could be good if done correctly. Not too much else to go on at the moment, but sounds like it’s worth checking out.

Tanaka is Always Listless

Tanaka-kun wa Itsumo Kedaruge

Manga Adaptation by Silver Link Air Date: 4/9/2016

The title seems to say it all. As far as I can tell, it is about a boy named Tanaka sleep walking his way through school life. The trailer looks like this is some HARD slice of life and it nearly put me to sleep, but just because it’s quiet and laid back doesn’t mean it can’t be good. Assuming it can insert just enough energy to keep things interesting, this might turn out OK.

Flying Witch

Kiki’s Delivery Service 2

Manga Adaptation by J.C. Staff Air Date: 4/10/2016

Makoto is a witch who flies at some point, but I’m not sure how relevant that is to anything. It seems to be a lot more about her moving from the city to northern Japan to stay with her extended family than any kind of magical shenanigans. As just noted with Tanaka-kun, I’m cool with some slow paced, easy going slice of life but my attention span can only stand so much. I do like the more rural setting though and it is quite pretty, so we’ll see how it goes.

Sansha Sanyou

Manga Adaptation by Dogakobo Air Date: 4/11/2016

OK there is literally no plot of note to this anime (the comically oversized bread is the highlight of the trailer) but given the circumstances we have to invoke the Law of Love Lab which states: “any anime school comedy made by Dogakobo that has no plot on paper still has a 50% chance of being good.” This particularly series is based on a manga by the author of Engaged to the Unidentified, which was far from perfect but still had a lot of good things going for it. So there’s still some hope? Maybe?